It is common practice to cover a surface or structure with sheet material for decoration, protection or reinforcement. A few examples of these applications include wallpapering and covering models of planes, boats, cars and such with a sheet material. When covering models the sheet material can be used to form a surface over a series of spaced planar ribs or bulkheads arranged to form a particular shape or contour. It is also used to cover an already existing surface of any shape or contour.
With such applications it is most desirable to trim sheet material at a uniform predetermined distance from an inside or outside line of intersection of two surfaces. This uniform line of overlap helps to ensure a lasting and aesthetically pleasing application.
At present, few tools are available for such cutting operations and they have very little adjustability. As a result, many modelers resort to gluing individual hobby blades to rectangular balsawood sticks of a certain thickness to achieve the desired overlap.
The invention is a sheet material cutting tool including a body defining a bottom guide surface; a front surface; a channel extending transversely to the bottom guide surface and intersecting the front surface; and a first leg and a second leg straddling the channel and each forming a portion of the bottom guide surface. The body also includes at least one slot defined by the first and second legs and transversely intersecting the channel, the slot being parallel to the bottom guide surface and shaped to receive the shank of a blade; and a closure actuatable to produce a force clamping the shank between the legs.
According to certain features of the invention, the front surface is convex and, radially intersected by the slot; the front surface is symmetrical around the slot; and the body has a top guide surface parallel to the bottom surface. These features facilitate desired material trimming with the tool.
According to other features of the invention, the first and second legs define a rectangular cavity for receiving the shank and the slot includes a rear portion extending rearwardly of the cavity; and the closure includes a tightening mechanism extending between the first and second legs and through the rear portion of the slot which further includes a fan-shaped portion extending between the cavity and the front surface and a transversely enlarged opening terminating an inner end of the rear portion and extending between the top surface and the bottom surface. These features further facilitate desired use of the tool.
According to an important feature of the invention, the tool includes a plurality of the slots. The plural slots greatly increase the functional flexibility of the tool.